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Paddy Island

Island in Queensland, Australia

Paddy Island
Summary

Island in Queensland, Australia

Paddy Island was an island in the Burnett River, northeast of the city of Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia. It holds historical significance and has been a site of various events over the years. Originally an island in the Burnett River, Paddy Island has seen frontier conflicts involving squatters and station hands from surrounding properties, resulting in significant confrontations with Aboriginal communities in the area.

Etymology

Fragment from Survey Plan W37.55 of the Burnett River and Eight Portions of Land Therein, Applied for Under the "Sugar and Coffee Regulations" County of Cook; 29 September 1868.

On a survey plan of the Burnett River transmitted to the Queensland Surveyor General on Tuesday, 29 September 1868, the island was referenced as Coodes Island by the District Surveyor John Charlton Thompson (1827–1878).

The Blaxland Tragedy

At Tirroan (later Gin Gin) Station

Gregory Blaxland Jr, the seventh and youngest son of the pioneer, farmer and explorer Gregory Blaxland (17 June 1778 – 1 January 1853), "organized a punitive party to deal with the savages", which culminated in a bloody skirmish at the site of Gibson and Howes' sugar plantation at 'the Cedars', south of Bundaberg."The blacks were shown no mercy, but (they) .. put up a mighty fight against the firearms of the whites, they of course having no better weapons than spears."Blaxland Jr was "regarded (by the Taribelang clansmen) as their chief enemy as all actions against the blacks was directed by him." When the opportunity for retaliation presented itself, Gregory Blaxland Jr. was ambushed, abducted, and violently clubbed to death at his pastoral station in early August 1850.

A retaliatory party "was organized among all (the) settlers and their employees, and they set out on their mission of revenge." Guided by a 'friendly gin', the "fugitive blacks were tracked down the Burnett River, where they had foregathered at a place now called (Waterview Station) Paddy's Island, not far from the mouth of the river."

Following these events, it is estimated that the death toll numbered in the hundreds.

Today, the custodianship of Paddy's Island is a point of contention between neighbouring tribes and a number of traditional owners.

References

References

  1. {{Cite QPN. 25773. Paddy Island. island in the Bundaberg Region (feature absent)
  2. jane. "Some Known Frontier Conflicts in Queensland".
  3. link. (19 March 2012 . library.uq.edu.au. (Read by ARTHUR LAURIE, a Vice-President of the Historical Society of Queensland at the meeting of the Society on 27 November 1952))
  4. Mike Derry. (2010-07-31). "Island war as clan clashes | Bundaberg News | Local News in Bundaberg | Bundaberg News Mail". News-mail.com.au.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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